[StBernard] Civil-rights group challenges new St. Bernard housing rule

[Westley Annis]

Civil-rights group challenges new St. Bernard housing rule

By JOE GYAN JR.
New Orleans bureau 
Published: Sep 28, 2006 

NEW ORLEANS - A civil-rights organization is threatening to sue the St.
Bernard Parish Council if the council does not repeal a housing ordinance
the group claims is racially discriminatory.

The ordinance passed last week by a 5-2 vote of the council states that -
except with a special permit - homeowners who were not previously renting
out a single-family residence are now prohibited from doing so unless the
renter is a blood relative.

Council members who backed the ordinance said their intention is to preserve
the integrity of single-family neighborhoods in mostly owner-occupied
neighborhoods.

The private, nonprofit Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center sees
it differently, claiming the ordinance would ban nonwhite renters in a
parish where white people own more than 90 percent of the owner-occupied
housing.

"Post-Katrina, citizens have partnered like never before, opening their
hearts and homes to strangers. However, the St. Bernard Parish Council has
taken action to shut St. Bernard's door to just about anyone who isn't
white,'' GNOFHAC Executive Director James Perry said.

Perry said Wednesday that the group might have to take the council to court
to open the door.

"We wanted to first call on them to see if they would do the right thing,''
he said. "We are considering legal action. We may not have a choice.''

The five council members who voted for the ordinance - Vice Chairman Joey
DiFatta, Craig Taffaro, Judy Hoffmeister, Kenny Henderson and Ricky Melerine
- said they will fight to uphold the law if it is challenged in court.

"We're taking bold moves to preserve the character of St. Bernard, its
owner-occupied neighborhoods, and the way to preserve that atmosphere is to
keep St. Bernard the way it was pre-Katrina,'' DiFatta said. "We hope folks
understand it has nothing to do with people who rent. But we don't want a
predominant renters community.''

Council Chairman Lynn Dean and Councilman Mark Madary voted against the
ordinance, with both objecting to telling property owners what they could do
with their homes.

"It's an invasion of people's property rights,'' Madary said Wednesday. "All
of these rights existed before the storm. To strip these rights after the
storm is un-American.''

Dean said he thinks the law discriminates against poor people who cannot
afford to buy homes. Madary also questioned whether the council can legally
enforce the code.

"No, I don't,'' Madary said when asked if he thinks the law is legally
enforceable.

But Madary defended his fellow council members, saying the ordinance was not
motivated by race.

"I do not believe it (race) was the intent of the council,'' he said. "It's
not racial.''

The new law has civil penalties for people found in violation - fines of $50
to $250 a day for each day of unpermitted rental, lease or occupancy.

Owners who previously rented single-family homes can continue to do so, but
without a special permit no one can begin renting out a single-family home
for the first time. A person can apply to the parish Office of Community
Development for a special permit, and it will be referred to the Planning
Commission, which makes a recommendation to the council.

The GNOFHAC says the Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in the rental
or sale of a dwelling on the basis of race, color, religion, gender,
familial status, disability or national origin.

The act has been interpreted to prohibit municipalities from using their
zoning powers in a manner that excludes housing for a group of people on the
basis of one of those classifications, the group says.

Taffaro, who introduced the ordinance, said it seeks to maintain the
integrity of single-family neighborhoods for people who are rebuilding from
Hurricane Katrina devastation. St. Bernard traditionally has been a parish
with a large percentage of owner-occupied homes, and the council would like
to maintain that to protect the stability of the parish, he said.

Taffaro said the ordinance would not have been needed if not for people
trying to buy cheap homes and turn them into rentals.

"Families can still use homes for other family members,'' DiFatta said. "We
just don't want to encourage people to buy homes and turn the parish into a
rental community.''

The ordinance goes further than one passed in July by the council that
allowed anyone who owned a home before Katrina to rent it out now but barred
anyone from buying a single-family home and then trying to rent it out.

Story originally published in The Advocate